


Transparent

by HeartfeltAdvantages



Category: Five Nights at Freddy's
Genre: Maybe angst, Minor Mentions of Eating Disorder, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past reference to domestic abuse, Slow Burn, Trans Male Character, Transphobia, Weird Shipping, no set plot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-29
Updated: 2019-06-27
Packaged: 2020-03-29 10:10:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19017784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeartfeltAdvantages/pseuds/HeartfeltAdvantages
Summary: Jeremy Fitzgerald was always known for his cowardliness, even as an adult. After spending a week working at Freddy's though... he was still a coward. But he was determined to help his new friends uncover the mystery behind the franchise, even if he died trying......Although he would prefer not to.





	1. Chapter 1

Jeremy was known for being a coward. It was something that was always a part of him, and as such he had accepted this fact years ago. That doesn't mean that he doesn't get his chance to shine however.

Unfortunately for him, that moment have yet to arrive. 

Working at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza proved to be a mistake as soon as the night was over, and he was borderline hysteric once six AM rolled around the corner. He had  _thought_ that it would be a breeze and was even excited to work there; Freddy's have been a apart of his childhood for as long as he could remember, and he thought that it would be fun working with the animatronics. Instead he have spent the night fighting for his life and he could still feel his hands shaking as he sat in front of the steering wheel.

He was  _going_ to tell the manager that he was going to quit even if he wouldn't get any payment. And yet... he couldn't bring himself to confront the older man. His voice refused to work and he could only stare at his feet while the man congratulated him for coming back in one piece when he visited the restaurant later that day. He had no idea why he didn't left, and he found himself standing in front of the building once again. There was a few minutes left before it was midnight, yet he didn't want to take another foot forward. Finally steeling his nerves- or what little he could find- he inserted the keys into the door and went inside. 

Already he could feel the animatronics eyes boring into the back of his head as he made his way to his 'office', if he could even call it that. When he first entered the area he found the layout to be weird as there was no doors and two vents on either side of him- even the guy on the phone mentioned that and tried to come up with a feeble attempt at reassuring him, even if he could tell that he was genuinely looking out for him. Later on Jeremy came to the conclusion that they may as well be entrances to his death as he had no way of properly defending himself apart from the Freddy head that he was provided with and a flashlight. There was so much that he didn't understand and he had no way of obtaining the answer unless he decided to strike up a conversation with one of the robots. 

The thought almost made him laugh.

As before the phone announced it's presence once midnight arrived and he let the tape run it course while he checked on the monitors to see if they were already active. He checked the backroom to see if any of the older model woke up and to his immense relief they remained dormant. The feeling died as the night progressed however and it continued to die as the week progressed.

They were getting more hostile towards him, almost like they didn't expected him to last this long. Jeremy was honestly surprised as well. He had no idea if sheer luck was by his side- which he doubt it considering what happened on the third night- or maybe the animatronics were going easy on him, which baffled him to no end. They clearly wanted to stuff him into a suit seeing as how aggressive they were becoming as the week progressed. Phone Guy- which was what he decided to refer to him as he never told him his name- would continue to talk to him during the night, and he found comfort in the messages that he left behind. 

When the week was finally done, he was more than happy to leave the premises and maybe even screw up some courage to inform his boss that he was leaving for good. That plan crumbled however when one of the day workers- a woman who he didn't bothered learning her name- informed him that he was going to work the following night shift as the weekend security guard was suddenly unable to come. He was tired, he was on the verge of an attack, and he was unable to say now. 

So here he was, spending another night in the claustrophobic office and fending for his life once more. He let out a shriek when the phone began to ring out of nowhere and he fumbled with the device for an embarrassing moment before he finally answered. He was both surprised and shocked when he heard the Phone Guy's voice on the other end and he quickly realized that this wasn't a recording. He was actually calling him.

_"Hello? Hello...uh...what on earth are you doing there, uh didn’t you get the memo, uh, the place is closed down, uh, at least for a while."_

He clearly  _didn't_ get the memo if he was here. While Jeremy wasn't one to get angry often, he felt a flare of anger towards the woman from earlier. Was this her idea of a joke?

Phone Guy was clearly upset, although Jeremy had no idea if it was directed towards him or the person who apparently used the yellow suit. The call was brief and Jeremy found himself filled with relief at the idea of moving to the day position; although he couldn't help but feel bad for the Phone Guy. The guy clearly didn't know about what goes on in the night, and he couldn't live knowing that he sent an innocent life to the grave. If he managed to survive the night he was going to tell him about what was really going on even if he had a limited knowledge himself or knew that the man wasn't going to believe him. It didn't hurt to try though.

Six AM came sooner than he had expected and he felt a surge of pride course through his body at his accomplishment. He went home and set up an alarm before immediately passing out on the couch, too tired to change out of his clothes. The party wouldn't start until the afternoon so he had plenty of time to rest. 

He arrived at the pizzeria an hour before the party could begin as he wanted to get as familiar with the area as possible. It was completely different in the day- the children absolutely adore the robots and he could see why.

Instead of acting bloodthirsty, they were actually really friendly towards the children. He even went to the Prize Corner to check on the Puppet- which he absolutely despise- and saw how happy it was giving gifts to the children even with a permanent smile on it's mask. Any signs of joy was gone though the moment he stepped into the room and he felt the wave of anger that was directed towards him. Letting out a squeak of fear he bolted out of the room before the animatronic- he didn't even know if it  _was_ an animatronic- could do anything worse. Phone Guy was right- something was clearly wrong today.

Jeremy went back to the main party area and surveyed the room to see if there was any workers who could tell him where Phone Guy is. His eyes landed to one of the maintenance crew lounging about in a secluded corner and he made his way over to him.

"Excuse me," he had to raise his voice over the screams of children, "Do you know where Phone- where the guy who records the tapes is?" 

For a moment the man looked like he didn't understand what he said, which is justifiable, then he nodded quickly and pointed to the exit. "He just left, man. If you like I could tell him that you want to see him when he comes back." 

Disappointment weighed him down as he turned down the suggestion and the worker clearly saw it as he suddenly picked up a scrap of paper that was on the ground and scribbled something on it. "This is his number- I saw it when I was cleaning the office."

Jeremy thanked the man immensely and stuff it into his pocket, fully intending on calling him once his shift was over. When the birthday boy arrived he went over to the small crowd and kept an eye on the kids to make sure nothing bad happened. It was a lot easier than what the night shift entails, and he was actually glad that he get to be here now. 

Then hell decided to pay a visit.

Radio static filled his ears and he only had a fraction of a second to react. He pushed away the child that was closet to the attack and made an attempt to flee only to be met by none other than Mangle. Jeremy knew how dangerous it was as it was the only animatronic to enter his office and not be confused by the Freddy mask. He was almost lucky that it was almost six AM as he had no way of getting rid of it. Now it was hanging off the ceiling like a bat, hunger in it's eyes before striking.

White pain seared through his body as it teeth sunk into his flesh and the scream that he let out was enough to freeze everyone in their tracks.

He was going to die. There was no doubt about it. He was  _going to die._

Except he didn't.

Several years passed since the "Bite of '87" and he was still alive. He wanted nothing more with Freddy's and he was able to live his life peacefully. The peace that he wanted so bad wasn't long lived.

* * *

Jeremy jumped when he heard someone knocking the front door and the surprise was immediately turned into confusion. No one visits him, so he had no idea who would be out there. Putting away the mittens and poking at the muffins to make sure it was fully cooked, he wiped his hands on his pants and answered the door.

The man that stood there was someone that he have never seen in his life, yet he seemed to know him as he asked, "Are you Jeremy Fitzgerald?" 

"...yes?"

Was he here to conduct a survey? Maybe he was trying to launch a new product and wanted his feedback on it. But then why does he know his name?

"You were one of the night guards at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, right?"

Ah. His mind blanked for a moment and he only returned to the present when a hand was waved in front of his face. "Would you like to come inside?" He had no idea why he even said that and he found himself sitting in front of Mike Schmidt discussing the one job that almost killed him. Mike must have seen his discomfort as he started with a simple question. "How long did you worked there?"

Jeremy had to pause to remember. "I think six days. I- I had to quit after the... incident." His arm wrapped around his stomach and he could almost feel it burn. He saw how badly Mike wanted to ask what happened to him but he held it back, much to his relief. He didn't feel like returning to that day. "How long did you stayed there?"

"Three weeks but then the place closed down for good."

How could he forget? When he heard that Freddy's was finally going to be demolished it was the happiest day of his life. That didn't mean that he was still confused though. "Freddy's closed down two- two months ago. Why are you still interested in it?" A dark look crossed over Mike's face. 

"Have you heard about the missing children?"

"...I've only heard rumors about- about it."

When he first took the job he had no idea about the bad reputation that Freddy's have gathered over the years. The only reason he know about the missing children was because he overheard some parents talking about it when he was trying to quit, and even then it wasn't the full thing. 

"I think that the missing children incident was an inside job. It  _has_ to be! That's why I'm asking as many night guards as I can find about it but..." Mike looked defeated. "It's a lot harder than it sounds. I couldn't find anything about it online and most of the news article I read just repeated the same information. You're the first guard that I managed to find that wasn't out of the country _and_ the first one who didn't told me to go fuck myself."

Jeremy's eyes widen in surprise- he never expected Freddy's to be so cagey about their information. Although he guess that it makes sense seeing that they wanted to look as legitimate as possible. "Have you a-asked the Phone Guy about it? He was, uh, working there longer than me, so he should know something about it."

Now it was Mike's turn to look uncomfortable. He scratched the back of his head and avoided his questioning gaze. "It.... it wasn't a good night for him."

That was all that he needed to hear to know what happened to him. Phone Guy- the one who encouraged him to work harder, the one who gave him tips on how to survive- was dead. He felt his hands start to tremble and he squeezed them between his legs so that Mike wouldn't notice. "Did," his voice came out hoarse and he cleared his throat before trying again, "Did you check?"

"As soon as the shift was over. There wasn't anything in the Freddy suit, and even if there was I doubt he would have been able to survive for so long. I have no idea when he recorded that message- for all I know it could have been made years ago." 

Jeremy wanted to move away from this topic as quick as possible now. "My cousin Fritz, uh, used to be a technician for Freddy's and started around the same time as me. With any lu-luck he should know something about the, um, the missing children." He gave Mike his phone number and looked down at his lap, unsure of what to do next. Thankfully though that was all that Mike needed and he left shortly after.

Left with his thoughts, Jeremy sat there in silence for a full minute before abruptly standing up and running over to his car. The drive was quick and it almost felt nostalgic; that changed as soon as he stood in front of the building. 

It was a lot smaller than he had remember and it looked like it was on the verge of collapsing with just a simple nudge. He couldn't imagine what happened in there that force the ex-security guard to start his impromptu investigation and he honestly didn't want to find out. A chill went down his spine when he suddenly realized that he was being watched, yet he couldn't tell from where it was coming from. Then his eyes landed on the broken window and he could have sworn that he saw a single yellow eye staring back at him.

He was back in his car and driving away in a flash, and a horrible thought entered his head. He was becoming tied up in Freddy's strings whether he wanted to or not.


	2. Chapter 2

A couple of days past and he heard nothing from both Mike and Fritz. He figured that Mike had all the information he needed to continue his investigation alone and so he ultimately forgot about Freddy's. That changed though when he suddenly heard a knock from the door, forcing him to wake up from his short lived nap. Mike stood in front of the door once more, but this time he wasn't alone.

"Fritz? What on earth are you doing here?" He asked in disbelief, and his cousin gave him a sheepish grin.

He haven't seen him in months, and it wasn't because he was actively avoiding him. In truth he love his cousin and his sister as they were the only family members that wasn't constantly degrading him into nothing.

"We decided that the best way to get answers is from the source, so we're going over to Freddy's to see what we can find," he explained, and Jeremy felt like he was going to pass out. 

"No! You don't know if those- those  _things_ are still active or not! They might try to kill you the minute you step foot into that place!"

"Jeremy, calm down. We already scope out the place and none of them looks like they're on. It's safe," Mike reassured, but he was having none of it. His mind was already going back to that day he visited the pizzeria- that feeling of being watched, the single eye staring back at him. They were going to get themselves killed and he needed to stop them.

Mike, realizing that it was just going to turn into an argument, spoke first. "Look, if you're so worried about us, then why don't you just come with us? We were planning on letting you join us anyways."

Any heat that Jeremy felt was instantly washed away by a wave of cold dread. He didn't want to step foot into that hell as long as he lived.... But he knew how determined Fritz was once he set his mind on something. Fritz was one of the hardest person he knows to convince, so whatever Mike said to him to get him to agree to this must have been pretty damming. He let out a defeated sigh and agreed to join them, knowing in the back of his head that this was going to end up in flames. If they weren't killed in the process, then they might get sick from all of those rusty pipes and other hazards.

He wasn't going to go down without a fight though. "Why do you need to- to go to Freddy's anyways? Don't they have any information about the missing children online?"

Mike gave an annoyed sigh like he knew this question was coming. "Believe me, I don't want to go back to that hell as much as the next guy, but I tried to dig up any information about the incidents and the only thing that came up was shit that I already know. I'm at my wits end and I figured that they may be covering the rest of the story in their." The story seemed plausible and Jeremy had a feeling that the franchise was notorious in keeping information hidden.

 _This better not be a mistake,_ he thought to himself as he entered Fritz's car. He stayed quiet for the majority of the ride, listening to the other two talk about what they might find. Finally they arrived at their destination, and even though it was a warm day, he felt his hands go cold as he stared at the ruined building. This was a mistake- this was a _big_ mistake. Why did he even agreed to this in the first place?

Going through the front door would have been risky since it was still daytime, so they made their way out to the back to see if there was another entrance for them. Mike was perfectly fine with breaking a window to get inside- "The place's going to shit anyways. Who's gonna notice one broken window outta all that mess?"- but Jeremy saw that the backdoor was surprisingly unlocked, so they went through that instead. They were immediately hit by a strong odor that he couldn't even describe and Jeremy had to cover his mouth so that he wouldn't throw up. The whole pizzeria seemed to be cloaked in darkness despite how early in the day it was so Fritz took out his pen light and shone it over the area.

It was a hundred times worse than how Jeremy imagined. At least in the office he had  _some_ form of protecting himself against the animatronics. He was virtually defenseless now and he stayed as close to the two males as possible. 

Despite being closed down fairly recently, it looked like it was in ruins for years. Mold grew in about every single crevice imaginable and giant black puddles pooled around their feet. Jeremy didn't even want to go  _near_ the kitchen or bathroom in fear of what they may find- or smell. However, he realized that he was right in his assumption from earlier. 

This version of Freddy's was significantly smaller than what he was used to and it lacked many of the rooms that the old version had. There was no Prize Corner, Kid's Cove, Game Area or any Party Rooms that he was able to see. All of those seemed to be replaced with a Dining Area- which was absolutely covered in bugs and was the largest room to date- and more hallways. Curious, Jeremy decided to break the silence. "How many animatronics did- did you have to deal with, Mike?"

"Hm? Oh, uh, only the main four," he replied, distracted with trying to find the other office. Then he added, "Sometimes I have to deal with Golden Freddy to, but he doesn't appear too often." Fritz and Jeremy cast knowing looks to each other before leaving the conversation at that. They made past Pirate Cove and behind the the Show Stage, although Jeremy couldn't help but shuddered under the eyes of the animatronics.

Surprisingly enough, they were the least damaged out of the building, yet he would have prefer the Toys over them any day. They were too bulky for his liking, and he could have sworn that Chica was staring him down from the stage. Slightly picking up his speed, he followed Mike and Fritz to what appeared to the the manager's room, and it was just as how he would expect it to look.

There was stacks of papers strewn about everywhere on the desk that seemed to hide the outdated computer, yet a majority of them were soaked in the weird looking puddles. Two file cabinets were pressed against the right-hand corner of the room, allowing clear access to the other door. Several posters adorned the sickly-green walls of Freddy and the gang, and Jeremy was surprised to see that Foxy wasn't included in the list even though they passed by Pirate Cove.

"Do we- do we know what to look for or are we, uh, just gonna be fumbling in the dark?" 

Fritz gave a shrug, looking all too comfortable in the office. "Anything that could give us a bit more insight on the missing children, really. Or we could dig around and see why the animatronics act like murderous bastards all the time."

He sighed in mild annoyance, and together they began to search. 

* * *

It was a lot more tedious than any of them expected, as many of the files were just normal business stuff. The task proved to be more challenging as there was no power within the building, meaning that they all had to share the flashlight that Fritz brought. They did saw a pattern though, since majority of the profit would go towards cleaning products and repairs towards the robots. All of them had a feeling what the cleaning products were used for, yet none of them voiced it. 

After what may as well be hours and nothing to report back, Jeremy let out a sigh of defeat and toss the report that he was reading to the side. His eyes were beginning to strain after reading in the dark for so long, and he pushed up his glasses and rubbed them carefully. "Mike, this is getting us nowhere. Why don't we just- just call it quits and go home before we get rabies?" Fritz complained, feeling just as tired as Jeremy does. Mike didn't answered, too engrossed in what he was reading to give a proper response.

Jeremy, who was standing by the doorway, was about to say something when he froze. Rapid footsteps echoed down the hallway, and he only needed to get a quick glance at the blur of red fur before he shut the door. A silver hook was brought down in the door mere inches away from him and he didn't need to say anything for the other guards to get the picture. Shoving the file back into the folder Mike quickly opened the door to leave only to let out a scream when he saw Chica standing there.

Foxy continued to hack through the door with his hook and Jeremy could only stand there and watch when an idea flashed into his head. It was incredible risky and, if it didn't worked, could most likely lead to their deaths faster. But it was the only way for them to leave, as Chica was slowly pushing her huge frame into the room. 

He spun around and grabbed the penlight off the desk. Fritz in the meanwhile grabbed a nearby chair and flung it towards Chica where it broke into several large chunks. He might as well have thrown a pillow at her as she didn't stopped at all, yet she did took a step back when Mike threw one at her as well. His cousin went about looking for another object to throw before stopping when he saw what Jeremy was about to do. A look of horror went across his face as he yelled, "Jeremy what the _fuck_ are you doing?!"

Heart pounding in his chest, he couldn't find it in himself to answer; instead, he waited until the hook was out of the door before moving. The door was slammed opened and Foxy froze in surprise. That was all the time that he needed to carry out his, albeit insane, plan. 

The minute he shone the light in his eyes the fox seemed to lock in place, and Jeremy let out an almost crazed laugh. They didn't even bothered getting rid of that glitch. He ran out of the room with Mike and Fritz following behind, although once they reached the Dining Area the trio seemed to branch off. 

Jeremy immediate plan was to hide somewhere and wait until the animatronics leave, although he knew that this was a mistake as the only hiding places that was available was the tables and the stage, which he immediately crossed off the list as he had no idea if Freddy or Bonnie would become active once he get there. As a result he dove to the nearest table and prayed that the robots would not think about looking down. He saw Chica outline went into the other room, possibly to go after Mike and Fritz. If he was lucky enough then maybe Foxy would go somewhere else. 

His hopes was dashed to the wind when he realized that that wasn't happening anytime soon. Instead of leaving, Foxy was actually checking the area to see if there was anyone there.

Panic clutched at his throat and he realized that he couldn't breathe. Then he began to panic even more when he realized that  _he couldn't breathe_. His chest heaved with every labored breath that he took. Lights began to flash in front of him and he found himself laying on the dirty floor and curling in on himself. Tears streamed down his cheeks that came out in choked sobs yet he couldn't find it in himself to stay quiet. The only thing that he could think about was getting stuffed into a suit. Maybe Chica already found his friends and was going through the motions of stuffing them too. He couldn't stomach the idea of hearing their screams echoed in the empty building and nausea hit him like a truck.

_I'm going to die I'm going to die oh god oh god oh god-_

The tablecloth was yanked up and he was staring at Foxy. Jeremy couldn't find it in himself to scream, and even if he could, then he doubt his voice would work. The lights flashed harder and he recognized that he was going to die. There was nothing he could do to stop it from happening. Darkness began to creep around the corner of his vision, and as he lost consciousness he just hoped that it would be quick.

* * *

Fritz and Mike barely managed to outrun the chicken. She was smarter than she let on, and it took them several tries to finally shake her off. They were stuck in the men's bathroom and they had no idea if Chica was waiting for them outside the door or not. 

"What do we do now?" Mike whispered harshly, and Fritz racked his brain for an answer. He had no clue why Foxy and Chica were still active when Bonnie and Freddy weren't, but he wasn't able to focus on that. He was scared, he was trapped, and he had no idea where Jeremy was. His eyes searched the tight area before they landed on the rectangular window that was above the third stall. It might be a tight squeeze, but maybe they would be able to escape through that. He sent Mike a grin, which looked more like a grimace with their current situation. "Do you still want to break a window?"

He understood what he was implying immediately. He left the safety of the door and began looking around for something that could break the glass. The search wielded little results, however, as Fritz saw him through his hands up in frustration and hissing out a curse. In the distance he heard heavy footsteps approaching and he knew that they had limited time. "Keep an eye on the door," he commanded. Mike nodded as he pressed his back against the door as a make-shift barrier in case the animatronic decided to come in, although they both knew that it wouldn't hold for more than a second. They were stupidly strong and he wasn't too keen on testing this out.

Entering the stall and climbing on top of the toilet seat, he grit his teeth for what would be inevitable and slammed his hand into the glass. Tiny fractures erupted from the action, and he only needed to do this two more times before it eventually shattered. Shaking his bloodied hand and swiping away the shards that remained, he quickly motioned for Mike to hurry before crawling through the opened space. This was difficult as the tight space- coupled with the lingering shards- made it difficult for him to move, but he somehow managed to push his body off and fall flat on his back. A pained wheeze left his mouth and he struggled to catch his breath. "Wait...Don't go...down yet." To his surprise and relief, Mike actually heard him. He waited until Fritz was able to move properly without feeling like someone suckered-punch him in the gut, but that didn't mean that he was happy about it.

"Fritz, I know that you're currently dying right now, but can you please  _hurry the hell up_ before Chica decides to come in here and bite my head off like a candy bar?"

The only response was a single finger, yet he didn't stalled any longer. He moved out of the way and Mike began crawling out of the window, landing in the same position he did. "Hurts, doesn't it?" Fritz teased lightly, and Mike only let out an angry wheeze before falling quiet. "You stay here and try to catch your breath- I'm gonna look for Jeremy." He left shortly after. Fritz decided that it would be quicker to check if he was already in the car so that they could just leave and forget that this whole day even happened. The weather seemed to have taken a complete turn for the worse, with angry grey clouds forming in the air and thunder rumbling too close for comfort. Lightening flash off in the distance and seemed to compliment his mood well because as soon as he peered into the empty car window his relief turned into horror. "Mike, he isn't here!"

Mike, who finally made his way to him, could only stare back with wide eyes before trying to calm him down. "Chill, Fritz. If he isn't here then he probably got out recently. We could split up to cover more grounds- you go left and I go right."

The brunet nodded shakily and went over to the left side of the building, trying to calm down his racing heart. Mike's probably right- they were only outside for a few minutes, so it was possible that he was taking a while to leave. That didn't help the thoughts that he was probably being stuffed in a suit at this very minute, and that only fueled his desire more. Foxy wasn't like Chica; he was quicker than the robot and was able to fit into smaller spaces. It also didn't helped that he was smarter than her too, although not as much as Freddy or the Marionette. Flashing a light could only do so much and eventually it would lead to his death. 

He was almost near the back entrance- and almost on the verge of a panic attack- when he found him. 

Jeremy was laid out on the ground, although Fritz couldn't tell if he was dead or simply unconscious. A closer inspection proved otherwise, much to his relief, and he began to search for any injuries. Apart from how pale he was or the thin tear on his sleeve, he didn't looked like he needed to be taken to the hospital. "Oh thank  _God_." He lifted Jeremy onto his lap and called out to Mike, who appeared several seconds later. A look of relief washed over his face and he jogged over to them.

"Is he...?"

"He's alive, just unconscious." Something doesn't add up. He glanced at the door and saw that it was firmly locked. "How did he escaped?"

"We just have to ask him when he wakes up. Right now we need to get out of this place and somewhere safe- it looks like it's about to rain soon." He was right. Together, the two of them carried the sleeping figure to the car before climbing in themselves. The car didn't start though; instead, they just sat there in silence and thought about what happened in the last hour. Mike was the one to break the silence first, letting out a shaky laugh and ran his hand through his hair. "Well.... that was something, huh?"

"Mike, what were we  _thinking_ _?!_ " Fritz finally confronted the elephant in the room and he saw how anxious Mike have gotten. "Jeremy was right we- we could have gotten ourselves killed and-"

"We didn't know that they were still active, alright? None of us knew!"

Fritz stayed silent for a few seconds before stating slowly, "I hope this was worth it, Mike. I'm not planning on dying to the hands of a knock-off chicken and a twitchy fox."

Mike nodded, holding up the folder that he managed to save when they were escaping. "Believe me, this folder is way more important than you think." He started the car shortly after and drove to his house as it was much closer than going to Jeremy's or Fritz's house. They had lapsed into silence, although Fritz couldn't help but spare a worried glance at his cousin. He had yet to wake up, and the question from earlier resurfaced. 

How did he escaped?


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay- I had to rewrite this chapter multiple times until I was satisfied.

The rain beat down on the car as they drove to Mike's house. Fritz played with his hands at the beginning of the drive- a nervous habit that he picked up from Jeremy- but stopped when he remembered that he was still injured, although not as bad as before. Mike gaze switched between him and his cousin before he joked, "I can't believe you broke that window without me. I wanted to do one thing and you took it away from me."

Fritz gave him a smug grin. "You had a chance but you wasted it. Besides, I looked good doing it, unlike you." Mike pretended to look offended before letting out a short laugh, and Fritz gave one of his own. They soon feel back into a comfortable silence before it was broken again as he asked, "Mike... Why are you so interested in these missing children? They probably died years ago, so I doubt that you could have a reunion party if you found them." Mike stayed quiet, and for a moment he thought that he stepped out of line with his question. Then the brunet looked at him and shrugged. 

"I'm just curious. Aren't you?"

Of course he was curious. Ever since he heard about it, curiosity gnawed at him for months until he finally pushed it down and ignored it. Every time he asked one of the workers at Freddy's they would either try to change the subject or they would just walk away from it. It made him realized that the franchise was hiding something, and when he worked that night shift all those years ago it confirmed his suspicion that Freddy's was not what it seemed. Now it was back at full force, and that was one of the reason why it was so easy for Mike to convince him to join him in his impromptu investigation. He wanted to know if the children were alright. He wanted to know what happened to the killer. He wanted to know if the people behind Freddy's knew what was happening behind closed doors. The rationale part of his head told him that this was just a waste of time, but he decided to avoid that kind of thinking for now. What was the harm of opening up a few closed doors?

They arrived at Mike's house shortly afterwards. As the brunet went to unlock the front door, Fritz went to the passenger seat to get his cousin. Jeremy was slowly waking up but was still too disoriented to move on his own, so Fritz took his arm and slung it over his shoulder so that he was leaning on him. Together they went to the now opened house and Fritz took a second to look around the area.

A brown sofa set was positioned in front of a somewhat bulky television with a coffee table placed in the middle. A dining table was off to the left side of the room that had a small stack of papers and a empty glass, and beyond that he saw the kitchen. A staircase led to the other floor, but he wasn't focused on that. "Alright, Jere, time to go on the couch." He eased his cousin down before looking for any injuries he might have missed. He found none, and he went over to the table to see what the papers had. The top one was just a newspaper clipping talking about the missing children incident and how investigators believe that it was connected to the pizzeria, so he placed that one to the side. 

' _Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria put under the spotlight once more as one of their animatronics attacked a local security guard._ '

The heading caught his attention, and he skimmed through the document. "During a birthday party that was hosted at Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria, the birthday boy almost lost his life as the Foxy animatronic, known amongst the workers and guests as 'The Mangle' tried to attack the unsuspecting. A day guard saw what was going to happened and protected the boy's life, although he was severely injured as a results, suffering wounds along his stomach and back as a result."

"It was a real show, that's for sure." 

Fritz jumped in surprise before looking at Mike, who had a small first-aid kit in his hand. Placing it on the table, he took out a bottle of peroxide and a piece of cotton before taking his hand and dabbing it on the injury. "Apparently the parents who were throwing the party decided to sue because of allowing a dangerous animatronic to be around children. Nobody died and they had to close down as a result." 

Wincing, Fritz nodded. "I know, I was there when it happened. I just didn't know about this 'Bite of '87' happening." 

Mike hummed in thought and wrapped his hand in bandage before moving to the next one. "If there was one thing that hell hole was good for, it was covering bad press. I barely found anything else talking about this or about the Bite of '83." Fritz looked at him in interest when he heard that, but before he could voice his question he saw Jeremy moving from the corner of his eyes. A faint smile went across his face as he waved at him to get his attention but went ignored as he stared off into the distance. His hand went to his chest and he looked around in clear confusion. 

"I'm- I'm alive?"

"You sound like that's a bad thing," Fritz joked lightly but dropped the smile when he saw just how unnerved he was. "Jeremy, are you okay?" Jeremy shook his head slowly, still in his dazed state.

"He was... he was right in front of me. I couldn't move, he was right there, so why-"

Mike snapped his fingers to get his attention. When Jeremy stopped talking he gave him a comforting smile. "Foxy probably malfunctioned and went off to Pirate Cove. You don't have to work yourself into a frenzy." Even though there was still unanswered questions- like how he got out of the building- Jeremy nodded slowly and let out a shaky sigh. He looked like he calmed down for now, and Fritz patted his shoulder once to see if he was really okay. When his cousin sent him a faint but genuine smile, he dropped the subject and decided to direct his attention to Mike. 

"You found something in that folder, right? Otherwise if we went there just to get our ass handed to us by a bunch of robots, I'm gonna be very pissed."

His eyes lite up in recognition and he dug into his jacket to fish out the folder that he stuffed. In the heat of the moment he completely forgot that he grabbed it. Fritz and even Jeremy peered over his shoulder to see what was on it. At a glance it just looked like a simple faded flyer for a pizzeria that was circus themed and an invoice. On closer inspection however, they saw that it was a list of all the animatronics that was in the building and who manufactured them. "Afton's Robotics...? I thought they got all of their robots from Fazbear Entertainment?" Mike mused, and Fritz pointed on a specific line on the paper.

"It looked like they came in for- for repairs." Jeremy eyes widen. "Hey, uh, they're actually not that far. it's just on the other side of town."

Fritz didn't say anything. He could understand why they decided to switch over to Afton's Robotics since the original owner of Fazbear Entertainment died, but it still rang alarm bells in his head. "Am I the only one who don't like the way how this looks?" His friends gave hums of agreement, and he finally locked eyes with them. "So. Are we doing this?"

"Doing what?"

"Checking that place out. There's no way that we're gonna miss an opportunity like this, and I know that you think that one of the technicians fucked over the robots to act like that. Who knows, one of those technicians might even be the killer! This could be a chance for us to get more information."

Mike sighed, almost in defeat. "Believe me, I would love to just hop in my car and drive us over there, but with how hard it's raining, I'd doubt that we'd get that far. We could check it out once it stops raining."  _Besides, I don't want to lead us to our deaths again,_ he thought, glancing over at Jeremy who looked unsure about the whole thing. He still don't understand what's going on with Freddy's, but he need all the help he could get if they want to figure this out.

* * *

The plan to go was put on pause when they heard the news. The owner of the recent pizzeria died due to a heart attack, and apart from the funeral that was going to occur on Saturday, there will also be an auction to sell all off the building, including all of the animatronics in it. 

Jeremy wrung his hands nervously as he looked at Fritz and Mike. They were all gathered in his house and he watched his cousin absentmindedly pet his cat Mittens, who purred loudly at the attention. There was a tension in the room that made it hard to breathe, and he didn't know what to do in this situation. "What," his voice came out hoarse, so he cleared his throat and tried again. "What's the, uh, plan?"

"Ditch the funeral?" Mike joked, although even they could see how grim he looked. Fritz rolled his eyes and Mike continued. "Look, we all know that we can't let anybody buy the animatronics- that's just asking for trouble. As far as I know, we have two options presented to us. One, we try warning people about the robots still being haunted and very much out for blood, or two, we destroy the animatronics before the auction. Either way, we're limited to what we can do."

Fritz looked unsure. "As much as I want to take a sledgehammer to Freddy's face, I don't that that would be a good idea. There's a large chance that we could get caught, and I don't want to go to jail for breaking Bonnie's face." He leaned forward and glanced at Mittens, who was now pawing at the strings from his hoodie. "And telling people about what we know about Freddy's could basically be a one way ticket to the crazy house, and that is something that I am not keen at doing." There has to be a way to get Freddy and his jolly gang of murderers away from the public before they do something serious, but nothing came to mind. His cousin let out a cough and raised his hand meekly, acting like a child in school. He raised a brow but allowed him to talk.

"Why don't we just- just buy them?" When he saw the mixed reactions his suggestion got, he continued. "Look, anything we try to do will just- will just draw attention to ourselves. It would make sense for us to just... blend in with the crowd, right? And once we buy the robots we can, uh, make sure that they don't cause any trouble for anyone." Fritz and Mike looked at each other before turning their attention back to him, which made him feel all the more uncomfortable.

Mike gave a little shrug. "It's a good idea, Jere, but we don't even know if all of them are active. Besides, what are we gonna do with them anyway?"

"Start our own restaurant?" Fritz suggested and Mike shrugged again. Jeremy turned his head to the side as he tried to think of a good answer. In the end he couldn't think of anything, and so he just decided to stay quiet. Fritz looked at him for a moment before running a hand through his hair. "Why does everything related to Freddy's have to be difficult?" He said mostly to himself. They didn't had a lot of options and there was only so much they could do with limited time. 

Mike, now holding Mittens in his lap, gave a tired sigh. "We could always check again, but I don't want us to get trapped in there like before." There was something unspoken in the air too when he said this. There will be more people on guard, and they couldn't go out in broad daylight. The first time was nothing more than a fluke, but this time they had to be careful. Mike and Fritz shared a knowing look when Jeremy suddenly found himself occupied with his second cat. They weren't going to tell him what they were going to do tonight- it was just a matter of how long they can keep up the charade. Thankfully they didn't need to pretend for much longer as without a solid plan, there wasn't much for them to do. They left shortly after, and they didn't noticed how Jeremy eyed them as they entered Mike's vehicle. 

The plan was supposed to be simple- slip into the backroom and avoid any security guards while Fritz set up his cameras so that he could monitor the robots in his house. By the time the auction arrived they would be able to know who were still active or not so that they could buy them. At least, that was how it was  _supposed_ to go. Instead they found themselves locked out of the pizzeria and arguing amongst themselves if they should try to break down the door. 

"What is up with you and breaking stuff? We can't do that unless we want to draw in more attention to ourselves." Fritz said, and Mike rose his arms in growing annoyance. He could understand that they had a time limit to work with, but they can't just go barging in guns blazing. They had to be cautious, and he quickly realized that Mike was anything  _but_ careful.

The former security guard pointed past the door and to the general location of the bathrooms. "What other plans do you have then, wise guy? We can't go through the bathroom window since they already repair it! Do you think that we can just phase through the walls like Golden Freddy?" Fritz was just about to give him a piece of his mind when he was suddenly interrupted.

"I think you two are making too much noise."

They both jumped at the new voice and turned their heads to see none other than Jeremy, looking extremely unimpressed at their performance. He walked to the door and got down on one knee, taking out what Mike believed to be some bobby pins. "How did you know that we would come here?" Fritz asked, and Jeremy rolled his eyes. 

"You're always too stubborn to- to quit something, and I barely know Mike to know that he's like you, Fritz. It isn't too hard to put two-and-two together. Now I would, um, highly recommend you two keeping your voices down before you gather unwanted attention." He replied in a hush voice, smiling faintly when the door let out a soft click. He unlocked the door and took a somewhat hesitant step inside, clearly scared of entering the building a second time. Mike gave the technician a look of disbelief before walking inside. Fritz let out a tired sigh, exhausted with what they were about to do, but soon entered the building, closing the door behind them. 

In a short amount of time the inside seemed to change drastically. There was still cracks and graffiti on the walls but there wasn't any garbage scattered across the floor and the horrid smell seemed to be all but gone. It was clear that they wanted to get rid of the building as fast as possible, and they couldn't help but feel the same way. After scanning the general area to see if there were any cameras, Fritz and Jeremy started to set up the equipment that they brought while Mike stood guard.

It was fairly late in the night as they didn't want anyone to see them, so none of the animatronics seemed to be activated yet. His thoughts went over to Foxy and he knew that he was unpredictable, so he mainly sent his focus towards him. By the time they were done connecting everything to the right place, the robots didn't even twitched, although Mike still felt as though something was off. He started to wander away from the dining area, his legs beginning to cramp and boredom seeping into his system. He found himself standing in front of a door with the label badly disfigured, although a distant memory informed him that it was the Safe Room. He overheard one of the former night guard talking about it when he was leaving the building, saying that he always found it weird how it was never on the monitor map. 

Curiousity overtook him. He never entered the room when the pizzeria was still opened to the public as he either didn't cared or he was just too shaken to think about it- he couldn't forget the feeling he got when he checked the backroom and saw nothing but empty Freddy heads after his fourth night. Making sure that he was alone, Mike pushed opened the door- it wasn't even locked- and peered inside. 

He didn't expect to see another animatronic. It looked like a test model for Bonnie expect that it had a golden palette that faded into more of a sickly olive over the years and too many holes. There was an awful order coming off it and he almost slammed the door shut because of the sudden wave of nausea that overtook him. "What the hell....?" Taking in a gulp of air, he opened the door wider and took a step in. There was a dark brown puddle of what he could only assume to be blood that encircled the animatronic, and it was slumped over itself, seemingly inactive. That feeling of something being wrong came back with a vengeance, and Mike knew better than to stay in there any longer. Flashing the light over the broken figure one last time, he went back outside and closed the door, only stopping when the body suddenly twitched. 

His blood went cold as Golden Bonnie jerked it head upwards and stared at him with grey-green eyes. Mike's reaction was immediate- he slammed the door and ran to the dining area. 

Fritz and Jeremy looked at him in alarm when he suddenly sprinted into view and he rushed through an explanation while searing for anything heavy enough to put the robot down. "There's another animatronic in here- a golden Bonnie- and it just looked at me."

Their face turned pale and Jeremy began packing the leftover equipment while Fritz searched for a weapon. They didn't had time to spoke- the only thing they could do was wait for the inevitable to happen. Leaving the building was unacceptable as they were very aware of the fact that it could leave the premises, and that idea could very well spell disaster for everyone. If they could find a way to shut it down then they would leave, but right now, they needed to survive. 

The door from the Safe Room cracked under the heavy weight of Spring Bonnie, and the golden bunny lumbered through the hall and into the Dining Area. He barely stood there for long though as Mike slammed a chair into it's chest. Staggering backwards, it turned it's head towards him and almost seemed to glare at him. His right hand lunged forward and grabbed Mike by the shoulder and for a single moment he thought that it was going to break his arm when Fritz suddenly appeared behind the robot and jammed one of the broken leg from the chair into the back of the suit.

A horrible screech came out of Spring Bonnie that made everyone paralyzed in fear. It's attention now towards Fritz, it let go of Mike's arm and grabbed the technician by the shoulders; without missing a beat, it threw Fritz into one of the table like it was nothing. Fritz let out a cry of pain and couldn't find it in himself to move, and Jeremy could only watch in horror as Spring Bonnie did the same to Mike. "Jere..." Fritz managed to say to gritted teeth. "Go... for neck..." He could already tell that something was wrong; he couldn't feel his right arm and he was seeing stars. Moving only sharpen the pain, and somewhere in the area he heard Mike let out a cough that quickly dissolved into a wheeze. He could only hope that Jeremy was able to react under pressure.

* * *

Jeremy was terrified. Mike and Fritz were injured and Spring Bonnie was moving towards him at alarming speed. He knew that he couldn't move away from them or else it might try to attack them again. Looking around for anything useful, he reached out for the screwdriver that rolled out of the bag and clutched it like it was a lifeline. 

The only way to attack was to get closer, and Jeremy forced his legs to move. For a moment he remained frozen, but adrenaline was coursing through his blood and he suddenly found himself able to move. The screwdriver held tightly in his hand, he avoided Spring Bonnie's hands and jabbed the makeshift weapon in between the joints of the arm. Just as quickly he pulled it out, and a spray of something unidentifiable landed on his face. The smell was horrible and Jeremy was too distracted trying to wipe it off to noticed Spring Bonnie sudden increase in speed. He barely had time to react when it went for his throat and started to squeeze, leaving him a wheezing mess.

Kicking his legs fruitlessly, his grip on the weapon loosen until it was all but gone. The screwdriver fell to the ground with a clank and he was left trying to paw at the bunny's grip. His vision was beginning to blur, yet he noticed two things happening outside of his line of sight. 

One, Chica was suddenly moving off the stage and towards Spring Bonnie with surprising speed for being so bulky. 

Two, Foxy's hook was suddenly latched onto the back of the rabbit's neck.

Jeremy was drowned in the noise of animatronic screams and felt like he was on the verge of passing out, so he didn't even realized that he was being carried away by Chica. Because of her large size, she was able to carry Mike and Fritz as well and relocated them farther away from the fight. Purple eyes met green, and she stared at him for a moment longer before rushing back to join in the fight. Foxy let out another scream and tore his teeth into the rabbit's neck, pulling back as broken parts and bone flew into the air. As much as he wanted to look away, Jeremy found his eyes glued to the fight when it suddenly clicked. There are bones in the suit and he was certain that underneath the endoskeleton he saw something that resembled a skull.

Someone died in that suit.

He felt his heart stop and behind him he heard Fritz muttered, "Holy shit." He was snapped out of his funk almost immediately and crawled to him, not caring if he was walking on broken debris at this point. His cousin and Mike were struggling to get up and his face paled when he saw the blood stain on Mike's shirt and how Fritz wasn't able to move his right arm. Panic clutched at his throat and he could still hear the fight behind him. The only good thing about this was that they didn't had to take down any of the equipment since Mike ran in before they could do anything. Jeremy felt like a mess but knew that someone had to do something. His eyes glossed over Freddy and Bonnie who stood on stage. They didn't even flinch during the fight, and he somehow knew that they weren't like Foxy and Chica. Something was wrong with them.

Jeremy switched his attention back to Mike and he asked him to lift up his shirt. "You didn't even buy me dinner first and you already want me to strip?" He joked, although he couldn't helped but wince as the fabric clung to the wound. It wasn't deep, thank God, but it was bleeding heavily and he didn't want it to get infected (especially with how dirty the floors are). The ginger was about to tear a piece of his jacket off when he saw the brunet's eyes widen in fear, and he turned around and almost knocked his face into Chica's hand.

The chicken stared down at them with cold eyes, but oddly enough it didn't felt like she was a threat. She must have went into a different room when he was inspecting the wound because she was holding a first aid kit in her hand. Hesitating for only a moment, he took it from her and thanked her softly, although she didn't say anything expect letting out a pained moan that he almost didn't hear. The kit was almost full, and he had a feeling that they didn't used it often. Taking out the bottle of medicine and pouring it on a neatly folded rag that was buried under bandages, he pressed it against the wound and asked Mike to hold it while he took out the gauze. While he worked he could feel Chica staring at the back of his head yet he didn't want to turn around in fear of freezing up.

When he was finished with Mike he started working on Fritz. Feeling his arm for broken bones and finding none, he figured that he must have sprained it somehow. He grabbed a broken piece of board that was thin enough to act as a splint and wrapped it with the gauze and the remainder of the medical tape he saw. While he was doing this Mike, who was pressing his hand against the wound to secure the bandages, said, "Why was there a  _second_ Bonnie of all things in there? And why did it wake up now of all time?"

Fritz looked just as lost as him. "I honestly have no idea. I haven't seen a springlock suit since they started that investigation, and even then only a handful of people would use it. You can't even get a drop of water on it or else you're as good as dead. Someone had the great idea of calling the suits Springtrap, and the name just stuck." Mike made a face at that and he nodded in agreement. "They only made two when they realized just how dangerous it was: a Golden Fredbear and a Golden Bonnie, but by the time they stored them away, the Bite of '83 happened and someone tampered the main suits."

A shiver ran down Jeremy spine as he could only imagine how horrible it must have been to get trapped in there with no way out. The suit was long gone- he could only imagine that Foxy must have removed it from the area when he was busy tending to them. Chica already returned to the stage, yet he could still feel her eyes boring into his soul. Then his heart skipped a beat when he heard the front door clicked opened, and without missing a beat he scrambled to his feet, slung the bag of cameras over his shoulder, and sprinted to the back door. Mike and Fritz followed after hesitating for a single second and they soon overtook him. The night guard shouted something at them but they were already out of the door and in Fritz's car, speeding off into the night. 


	4. Chapter 4

The funeral seemed to drag on for an eternity.

It wasn't that Jeremy didn't like the manager- that couldn't be farther from the truth. He was actually very close to him; after all, the manager was very accepting of him before he, uh, transitioned. Funerals always made him feel uncomfortable, or maybe it had to do with the fact that they were inside a church. Either way, if he had to sit through another hour listening to that priest ramble on, he's gonna strangle the person next to him- sorry, Fritz. He shifted in his seat for what felt like the millionth time. Fritz must have noticed and nudged his shoulder, giving him a small but reassuring smile. The gesture worked, and he calmed down slightly as the priest finally ended the ceremony with one last prayer before dismissing them.

They found Mike talking to one of the manager's relatives- from the looks of it, she may have been his wife. Their eyes made contact for a split second, and he gave him a final smile before joining them. His eyes flickered to Jeremy's neck and he commented lightly, "How's your neck? Is it still bothering you?"

Jeremy's fingers briefly touched his neck. He made sure to conceal it with some makeup he hasn't used in years, and so far, no one seemed to have said anything about it. It still hurt to breathe though, although he figured that it shouldn't last much longer. He waved off the question and explained that the pain should pass in a couple of days, and he seemed to be convinced. "Oh! Thanks for patching me up back there too- I wasn't in the best, ah, mindset to really say anything. Did you went to medical school or something, because you seem to know a lot about these kinds of things."

The ginger shook his head and his fingers twitched, his eyes focusing on nothing. He remembered how angry Mike was while they were driving away from the pizzeria, even if it wasn't the loud type.

* * *

_"What if one of the employees took the suit and killed those kids?"_

_Mike and Jeremy's eyes locked on Fritz. He didn't look at them, his gaze focus on the road. "Think about it," he continued, "someone had to have knowledge about how to use them properly. That has to be the reason why there's a springlock suit here and not dismantled with the others- someone took it with them."_

_It... made sense. It was the only lead they had, and even though Jeremy felt sick at the thought of one of his co-workers being the killer, it was the only theory they had so far. It was the only one that made sense, too. There was a problem with the theory though. "Apart from Golden Freddy, I haven't seen a single springlock suit in the pizzeria. I- it must have been used in one of the, uh, older buildings."_

_"And we have no idea how many sister locations Freddy's had," Fritz added, his expression matching his cousin's. "The springlocks suits could have come from the other side of the country and we wouldn't know. Anyone could have used the suit."_

_"Who would know how to operate the suit **properly**?" Mike asked, and Jeremy didn't like the tone that he used. It was cold, the complete opposite of Mike's sarcastic yet playful voice. It reminded him too much of the people that he wanted to forget, and he felt his hands tremble underneath. His cousin didn't seem to notice the sudden change in demeanor, and he thought for a while before answering._

_"It's probably the people who made the suit." He paused before adding, "The technicians might know how to use the suit too since accidents were bound to happen, but I have no idea who would have worked there for so long and not quit."_

_"What about V-Vincent? Didn't he mentioned that he worked there since the beginning?" Jeremy quipped softly, still staring at Mike, and Fritz snapped his fingers in approval. His excited mood then turned sour as he slumped in his seat.  
_

_"I have no idea where he is. Ever since he got fired, no one knows what happened to him. Maybe we could ask around to try and get some sort of lead on this investigation."_

_Mike didn't say anything else, and the rest of the ride was spent in silence. Jeremy stared at his lap as he tried to calm down his nerves, and his mind flashed back to when Springtrap had him by the throat._

_He was sure that the image of his face wouldn't leave his mind for a long time._

* * *

 "Hey Jere, you ready to go? They should start the auction in a while."

Jeremy snapped out of his thoughts and gave Mike a shaky nod and followed them to the tent that was on the other side of the property. As they got farther away from the church he felt as if he could breathe easily, but he was still thinking about Springtrap. If the killer was the one who had the suit, then why would it be in the pizzeria? It looked like it's been in there for years, so they were bound to notice it anyway. Something didn't add up.

The majority of the crowd was made up of buyers who were interested in getting their hands on one of the animatronics or the property, but even as they were making their way to the tent he saw that there was only five or ten people there. He glanced at the truck that was holding the animatronics and patted his pocket that had his wallet. They already knew who to buy.

Because of how inactive the bear and bunny animatronic were, they figured that they were somehow broken beyond repair, although that doesn't explain why they still looked brand new. Jeremy kept an eye on them still as they were rolled on stage, yet they didn't seem to move at all. He could only hope that they won't activate once midnight arrive.

Freddy and Bonnie were hold without a hitch, and as the buyers went off to the side, Chica was wheeled to the center of the stage. Fritz bought her without much hassle, and Foxy was soon next. He was being sold surprisingly cheap, and he guessed that it was because of how broken down he was. Jeremy was able to purchase him at a fraction of what he had expected, and he asked Mike to hold onto his wallet while he followed his cousin to side some papers to legalize the trade.

An hour passed, and Mike was almost about to leave when they wheeled in a large box.

It was a greyish shade of blue with large purple stripes going down the center and topped off with a bright red bow. The sight of it completely caught Mike off guard as he had no idea that there were still items left in the pizzeria. The starting price was absurdly low, and the security guard figured that he could just pay Jeremy back later.

He decided to buy the box, both out of spite and curious as to what might be inside. He got up from his chair as the rest of the participants followed suit. The buyers went to their vehicles and he quickly realized that the box was probably the last item for sale. The security guard went to sign the necessary documents before taking the item in his hands. It was a lot heavier than he'd anticipated, and his curiosity spiked. The brunet passed Jeremy and Fritz as he headed to his car but abruptly came to a stop when he saw their reactions.

Jeremy pressed his hands to his mouth as his face paled. Fritz, who was struggling to fit Chica into his car while also making room for Foxy, stopped what he was doing immediately and grabbed the brunet by the sleeve of his shirt, pulling him to the side.

"Mike, what the _hell_ did you bought?" He hissed, and this was the first time he had seen the technician like this before. Mike yanked his arm out of his surprisingly tight grip, adjusting the box in his arms in the process. His eyes glanced at Jeremy for a fraction of a second; he wasn't moving at all, although he could see how his chest rose and fall with each short breath of air. Even in the short time he'd gotten to know Jeremy, he knew that he kept a relatively cool head in tight situations. His mind flashed back to that night with Springtrap- even though Chica was looming behind him and Foxy could have attacked at any moment, he didn't panicked as much as he would have thought. His eyes returned to the box and he felt a stab of dread.

If the mere sight of it was enough for him to turn into a literal statue, then what's inside?

"Well, I was hoping that it's a birthday present, but now I'm not so sure." When in doubt, crack a joke. Fritz narrowed his eyes at the box and looked like he was going to say something but stopped himself in the last second. Instead, he sighed heavily and rubbed the back of his neck as he eyed the box warily.

He looked defeated when he realized that they weren't able to return the damn thing and let out another sigh. "I would take that godforsaken thing off your hands, but I think that Chica will be a handful on her own. I'm especially concerned about Jeremy since he has to keep an eye on that twitchy fox over there." He muttered that last part to himself before continuing. "First of all, does it comes with a music box? If it doesn't then you can basically kiss your ass goodbye."

The security guard opened the box and they both peered inside. An ancient-looking music box laid on top of a tangled mass of limbs and Mike had to squint to make out its features since he didn't want to scare Jeremy even more by taking it out. "It's a sock monkey. That's what you're afraid of?" Fritz rolled his eyes at the description but grabbed the music box. He wound it several times before allowing it to play, and a look of relief crossed his face as the melody poured out.

Jeremy uncovered his mouth and spoke, his voice an octave higher than before. "D-don't let the- the music box stop!" His cousin nodded in confirmation.

"Keep that thing wound for as long as possible. Hell, take shifts if you need to. Just know that as soon as the music stop playing, then you're as good as dead."

Well, that's reassuring. With nothing more to say, he took the music box out of the technician's hand and unlocked the car. Fritz sent him one last look before going to his own vehicle, pausing to shake his cousin out of his shaken state and ushered him to the passenger seat. For a while, Mike didn't start the car. He was lost in thought, his mind quick to tell him that he would spend the night with a killer sock monkey.

...

He just realized just how absurd that thought was. He survived Freddy's- he could survive a single toy. The drive felt relaxed compared to before, and by the time he pulled into his garage the evening was already transitioning to night. Grabbing both boxes and locking the car, he made his way to the front door and entered his house.

His stomach abruptly growled and he remembered just how hungry he was. Tossing the present to the couch and setting the music box on the kitchen counter, he searched the fridge to see if he can make anything quick.

The rest of the night was spent on watching reruns of crappy shows. It was almost going for midnight when Mike decided that it was time for him to go to bed; he was halfway up the stairs when he suddenly recalled what Fritz told him. He sighed to himself in annoyance and went back for it, sparing a fleeting glance at the present box before resuming his trip upstairs. On the way to his bedroom, he wound the music and placed it on his dresser- he could rewind it later. It only took him a moment to change into something more breathable before he jumped into bed and he soon fell asleep.

* * *

  _It was raining, and he was trapped outside._

_Mike could only watch as the occupants seemed to have the time of their life inside the restaurant, banging against the window and trying to catch their attention with little result. It was his birthday- it was his party. Why was he locked out? He yelled, he screamed, he even tried breaking the glass. No one paid any attention to him. They acted like he didn't even exist._

_Tears spilled down his eyes as he shivered violently, hugging his body to get as warm as possible. Mike tried moving but found his feet glued firmly to the ground. The only thing he could do was watch. He tried again, his voice hoarse and breaking._

_"H-hello? Can anyone hear me?"_

_"I can."_

_He jumped and spun around. He didn't even hear the car stop, and he could only stare as the purple figure knelt down in front of him. It tilted its head, and Mike was almost certain that it was smiling at him. The rain filled his ears and it grew louder and louder to the point that he thought that he might go deaf. Despite that, he could hear the purple figure speaking as clear as day. "You shouldn't stay out in the rain, kiddo, you might catch a cold." Mike didn't say anything and watched as it took off its coat and placed it over his shoulder. It was still warm and he clung to it like a lifeline. He wasn't sure why, but some part of him trusted the purple figure. Maybe he was one of Dad's friends._

_It stood up and extended a hand. "Follow me. I'll get you out of the cold."_

_He hesitated. "B-but... My party. My mom might get worried and..." He looked out the window and saw how his mother was talking animatedly to one of her friends. She looked so happy. Why wasn't she looking for him? The figure seemed to read his thoughts as he placed a hand on his shoulder._

_"It's okay, I'll take you to her. Just follow me."_

_He focused on the figure's face, but no matter how hard he stared, he couldn't make out its features. Finally, he took it's hand and allowed himself to be taken to the back of the restaurant. The purple figure decided to know as much about him as possible during their short walk._

_"So, how old are you?"_

_"I'm nine! Mom even decided to have the party here!" Except he wasn't with his mother. He was out here, in the rain, freezing out of his mind and talking to a complete stranger. But it wasn't a stranger, was it? He was with a friend._

_The purple silhouette chuckled and ruffled his hair, and he beamed at it. "Well, since it's your birthday, why don't I give you something? It's not gonna be as good as all your other presents, but I think you'll like it a lot." Mike gasped, and it told him to stay where he was and went back to the car. He jumped in place, excitement coursing through his veins as his mind raced with different possibilities. What was he going to give him? Maybe a toy or a game or maybe even a bike! He could barely contain himself and almost threw himself on the body when it reappeared._

_It laughed yet didn't remove his hands from behind his back. Mike excitement grew. It began to walk slower before he stopped, and the child saw that it was holding something in its hand. It was a knife._

_"All around the mulberry bush, the monkey chased the weasel," it sang softly, and suddenly any excitement that Mike felt turned into searing pain. His chest started to burn and he could only let out a wet cough as the fire spread throughout his body. His arms burned, his sides burned, everything burned._

_"The monkey thought it was all in good fun."_

_He brought his hands to his mouth to muffle the cough, and when he pulled back he saw that it was splattered with red. Tears mingled with the blood as his knees buckled beneath him and the fire began to grow cold. Mike's vision began to blur and he could only stare at the purple figure in betrayal._

_"Pop goes the weasel."_

* * *

Mike woke up _screaming_.

His lungs felt like they were on fire and it took everything in him to stay put as he tried to catch his breath. Then he looked up and screamed again.

Staring down at him from the ceiling was the Puppet. Its head was turned at a complete three-sixty degree and two white pinpricks shone in the darkness, and he was barely able to make out the wide grin and the purple tears that streamed down its cheeks. They stared at each other for a single second, and it almost looked like the toy was caught off-guard by his sudden scream, yet to him, it felt like years. Then it lunged.

He scrambled out of the sheets and dove out of bed; Pop goes the Weasel blared from its chest as it got lost in a tangle of fabric before tearing a hole with its hands. Mike pinned his body against the wall, his mind still reeling from the nightmare, when his eyes landed on the music box. It was so close, yet the Puppet seemed to know what he was going to do. Standing on all fours, it threw it's body at Mike again and successfully latched onto his throat.

It wasted no time and _squeezed_.

The security guard pawed at its hand before grabbing it arms and throwing the toy to the other side of the room. It landed against the wall with a thud, and Mike could only catch his breath for a fraction of a second before sprinting to the music box. The puppet was suddenly in front of him and attacked again, although he was quick enough to move out of the way. Three long scratches appeared on his arm, and he could only reach out for the sheets before throwing it over its body. It fought against the covering, and if he didn't felt like he was on the verge of death, he would have found the scene funny. Instead, he used it as a way to continue.

His hand brushed the music box and he snatched it from the dresser, hugging it close to his chest as he gripped the crank. The nursery rhyme lulled to a stop, yet the music box remained silent.

The Puppet stared at him with white eyes, the smile never leaving its mask. Mike's hands trembled violently and he couldn't even remember when was the last time he was stricken by fear before. The toy regarded him almost curiously, tilting its head to the side _the same way the purple figure did._

This time he didn't hesitate. He wound the music box and allowed the song to fill the room. The puppet movements turned sluggish before it crumpled to the floor, and Mike could only stare at it before collapsing. He didn't know how long he stayed like that, he only remembered keeping the music box playing.

Sunlight trickled into his bedroom and he soon realized that the night was over. He didn't need to watch over it anymore. His body protest as he got up from the floor, bones popping loudly and blood finally circulating through his veins once more. His fingers felt cramped and he felt like literal death, but he felt never felt so alive. Mike made sure not to touch the crumpled figure and made his way downstairs. He still couldn't get rid of that feeling of dying, and even doing something simple as drinking water seemed to burn. It was only when he noticed just how badly his hands were shaking that he was overcome with a feeling of nausea.

Bile filled his mouth as he rushed to the bathroom, and he barely made it in time before it came out. When he was done, he was left dry heaving, tears splashing on the toilet seat and his mouth tasting like acid. Mike stayed like that for God knows how long. When he finally found the strength to move he flushed the toilet and slowly took off his clothes to get rid of the remains. Everything hurt, everything  _burned_ , and he wanted it to stop.

Standing under the cold water brought him relief, and he let out a shuddering breath, closing his eyes to enjoy the moment. Several minutes passed before he got out and put on a fresh set of clothes, although that feeling still won't go away. He doubt that it would. Passing his room he saw the still form of the toy and knew that he would have to move it into it's box soon. Every fiber of his body refused to go near the damn thing yet he forced himself to move, holding it at arm length and promptly chucking it into the present box. 

The Puppet didn't even move. 

Mike released the air he was holding and ran a hand through his hair. He was suddenly determined to leave the house, and after grabbing a jacket and his keys, he locked the door and headed to town. His cell phone began to ring from home, and a single striped hand pushed the box lid up.

* * *

It took Mike a while to realized that he didn't ate breakfast yet. His stomach growled yet he was in no mood to return home. Patting down his jacket in search for spare change, he grinned tiredly as he found a couple of dollars hiding in one of his pockets. The security guard started to walk towards one of the smaller grocery stores, trying to figure out what he should buy. He certainly didn't have enough to buy breakfast, but maybe he could buy a granola bar or something else that could ease his stomach.

The plan now in motion, he walked into the small building and headed to the cereal section, knowing that that was where they placed the candy too. Apart from a little girl, the store was empty. Mike inspected the candy when he felt a tug from his jacket. The little girl, who stared at him with bright brown eyes, sent him a shy smile and pointed to one of the cereal that was out of her reach.

"Can you bring that down please, Mike?"

He gave her a tired smile in return, although to him it felt more like a grimace, and got the box that she wanted. She beamed and thanked him before running to the cashier, pigtails bouncing in the wind. It took him a while to realized that she knew his name even though this was the first time he seen her, yet his sleep-deprived brain didn't seemed to come up with a good answer. He shrugged and paid for the granola bar, lingering for just a moment before he finally made his way back to his house. The walk back felt all too short, and before he knew it, he was standing outside of his house once more. His keys clanked in his shaking hand, and he felt annoyance shoot through him.

"Stop acting like a baby, Mike," he chided to himself, steadying his hand. "It shouldn't be active now. You're _fine_."

Despite how heavy he felt, he unlocked the door and entered. Just like he said, the house was quiet, and he didn't see the Puppet anywhere. Relief warmed his fingers and he let out a shaky laugh that was borderline hysterical. Mike walked to the kitchen, his mouth suddenly feeling dry, when he heard the door clicked from behind him. Any form of relief morphed into fear as he spun around and came face-to-face with the Puppet.

White eyes stared into blue, and the toy held up a single finger and pressed it against its mouth as Pop goes the Weasel quietly filled the room.


	5. Chapter 5

**Several Hours Ago**

Fritz was basically fucked. 

Not only did he had to worry about the seven-foot robotic chicken he was bringing into his home, he  _also_ had to worry about his nine year old niece getting hurt from the aforementioned chicken. His brother didn't mentioned coming back anytime soon- he was starting to think that he  _wouldn't_ come back- and he didn't want to leave her alone with his friends for too long. There wasn't a lot of options presented to him, which was something that he hated with a passion. He organization, patterns, anything that dealt with order. It was the reason why he became a technician in the first place. Hell, even working at  _Freddy's_ had it own pattern. 

But now everything was in shambles. They're looking for a killer that Mike was basically obsessed with, they have two animatronics in the back seat, and don't even get him started on the fucking  _Marionette._ He was more worried for his cousin and the security guard's health than his own- the worst Chica could do to him is strangle him to death. Both the Marionette and Foxy were unpredictable, and the latter even had a hook for Christ's sake. Even though the original performers showed some sort of... he wouldn't even call it respect or acknowledgement. Whatever they had, he doubted that it would last long.

What he  _did_ know was that the Marionette only had one mood when it comes to adults:  _Murderous._

It was one of the reasons why the night guards who managed to survived all seemed to be afraid of the toy; there was a silent agreement between them that Balloon Boy was a hard second when it comes to animatronics that they're afraid of, but that's only because of how unsettling the robot in question was. Even the children were wary of him, although the younger ones seemed to love him.

"Fritz, keep your eyes on the road."

He blinked, his train of thought screeching to a halt when Jeremy suddenly snapped his fingers in front of his face. He sighed in reluctant acceptance and stared out the road. The ginger stared at him from his peripheral vision and he could feel the concern coming off him. "Do you want me to look after Madison? We could have an impromptu sleep-over."

Fritz barked out a laugh and sent him an incredulous look. "Are you kidding me? Jere, I love you, but you are probably the most hotheaded person I know. Besides, I'm more concerned about  _your_ safety since you're bringing good ol' Captain Foxy with you."

Jeremy had the gall to look offended. "I'm not hotheaded! And besides, I can take care of myself."

"You almost burned down the kitchen when you were living with us."

"I didn't know how to turn it on!"

" _Exactly!_ " 

His cousin let out an exasperated groan and sank back in his seat while Fritz laughed again, although they both fell silent afterwards. It's true that Jeremy's probably the most reckless person he ever had the pleasure of knowing despite the shy persona he put up, but he was also stubborn to a fault. And incredibly brave.

* * *

_Eighteen year-old Fritz had no idea what that night would hold. It was supposed to be a night of celebration since it was his mother's birthday, but it instantly turned downhill when a knock at the door grabbed their attention. His dad was the first one to move and was quickly followed by the rest of his family._

_It was raining non-stop all week, and even now a light drizzle hung over the town. A gust of cold air blast through the opened door, and he shivered before his blood turned cold._

_His cousins stood in front of them, shivering violently in the cold. Madeline had her arms wrapped around her brother, looking at the road as if they were being followed, her breathing heavy. Fritz was able to make out a suitcase peeking from the door frame and remembered that she was supposed to leave for her flight at this hour._

_Jeremy's breathing was also labored, sweat and rain pouring over his body, and Fritz was half inclined to believe that they ran the whole mile to get here. The hoodie- his hoodie, he remembered faintly- did nothing to conceal the purple bruises that decorated his face, and behind the shattered glasses his left eye was swollen horribly. His schoolbag looked like it was about to explode, and frantic green eyes searched the empty streets like he was being hunted by Satan himself._

_"H-hide him. **Please**. I-I- I don't know ho- how long he-" Madeline couldn't say anything else, her teeth clattering too hard in the cold. His father was the first to react, reaching out a hand to lead him inside._

_Jeremy jerked away from his touch, his bandaged covered hands flying to protect his face. "Don't-!" His dad looked torn between obeying his wish and trying again. His sister apologized but still begged them to let him stay, and her mouth suddenly clamped shut when headlights appeared in the distance. She practically shoved Jeremy inside, snatching her suitcase from the porch and running up the steps. "D-don't let them fi-find us," she hissed before rushing upstairs._

_Fritz was unable to speak the entire time as he followed them, and even as Jeremy flung towards him and sobbed into his chest, he was unable to find his voice. He felt thin, too thin, yet he was quickly pulled away from him as Madeline held him by the shoulders, looking for a place to hide from their parents._

_What were they doing to them? What did they do to him?_

* * *

"Fritz, the  _road_."

He jumped again and Jeremy smiled faintly. "And you said  _I'm_ the reckless one," he muttered playfully, yet Fritz didn't replied to the comment. A thoughtful look cross his face and he glanced at his cousin with worried eyes. A wave of protectiveness washed over him.

"Are you  _sure_ you're going to be okay? I could take Foxy off your hands if you want."

The smile didn't left his face, although it did looked strained. "Fritz, I'm gonna be fine. If Foxy starts to act up, I just jam something in the back of his neck to deactivate him, right?"

He nodded, still lost in the memory. Jeremy, mistaken his silence for worry, went back to looking out the window. After a moment, Fritz finally said what was on his mind. "Are we... are we doing the right thing?"

Confused eyes stared at him. "What?"

"This." He made an empty gesture, yet Jeremy's eyes lit up when he realized that he was talking about the investigation. "Looking for the murderer. Going back to Freddy's. Buying animatronics that actively tried to  _kill us_. Should we really be wasting our time on something that is ultimately pointless and could lead us to our graves?"

The ginger stayed quiet for a moment before looking at him, and there was silent determination in his eyes. "Yes."

"But  _why?_  The only info we have is a name to a building that probably have nothing."

He stared down at his lap, a sad smile playing at the edge of his mouth. "Because they weren't put to rest. The parents of those missing children still don't know what happened to them after all these years. If we can find something that tells us who the killer is, then they could at least put a face to the person who took them away." He frowned slightly. "But maybe they don't want to know what happened to them and want to stay blissfully unaware of the truth. In any case, what we're doing feels right."

Fritz let out a frustrated noise. "This shouldn't be our job, Jere! This is something that the police should do, remember? That's  _their_ job.  _Our_ job is going through our day without getting knocked down by a car."

"We can't rely on the police for everything, Fritz." His voice was bitter, and he sighed. "If Mike wants to play detective, then fine, let him play detective. The least we could do is try to humor him. Besides, don't you want to know what happened to them too?"

There's that damn question again.  _That_ was the question that got him into this mess. Letting out an annoyed sigh through his teeth, he nodded reluctantly. "God, you're just like him." Jeremy smiled widely and gave him a one-sided hug. 

"You know you love me, Fritz. And I know that we were having a serious talk, but..." He pointed to the unfamiliar houses. "Where are you taking me?"

Fritz cursed and turned the car to the right lane, smiling as Jeremy laughed again.

When they were in the right neighborhood the late afternoon sun was shifting into twilight, and they were now stuck with getting Foxy out of the car and transporting him to his house. "Remind me to buy a truck later if we're gonna keep them," Fritz huffed as he fixed his grip on Foxy's arms. Jeremy nodded, watching behind him as he carried the fox's legs. They made it into the house with relative ease, and with the limited space, they placed Foxy in the corner besides the television. "Now, do you remember what to do in case Foxy tries to attack you?"

The ginger rolled his eyes and fixed his glasses. "Yeah, yeah. Get from behind and jab something in his neck, I _know._ I could handle myself, Fritz." At this he pretended to show off his non-existent muscles, and Fritz could only smile and pat his back.

"Whatever. Make sure you check on Mike tomorrow, okay?"

He gave him a thumbs-up and waved after him as he left. The drive to his house was short, yet it was already growing significantly late; he was surprised when he saw the light from the television reflecting off the windows and sighed fondly. The front door opened before he was able to get Chica out of the car- how in the hell was he supposed to move her by himself?- and Madison ran out and hugged his waist, still wearing the funeral dress from earlier today. He had a feeling that the auction was going to drag on, so he asked one of his friends to drop her off. She did caught a glimpse of Mike and he was quick to explain the situation to her before she rushed to any conclusions.

Fritz was watching over her since she was three, and even though her memories of her original father was hazy, it was enough for her to realize that he was merely acting like a guardian to her. Every time he was talking to someone, whether it was over the phone or face-to-face, she would always ask him if that was her dad. And every single time he had to tell her the truth, watching as any sort of hope crumble in her eyes.

Lately though, she stopped talking about her father. He doesn't know if that's a good sign or not.

"Fritz!" She smiled brightly at him before gasping when she saw the robot. She reached out to touch Chica, marvelling at how pretty her eyes was. Before she could do anything else, Fritz scooped her up in his arms and spun her around, causing her to scream in excitement. He stopped soon after and sent her a knowing yet teasing stare. 

"Aren't you supposed to be in bed, young lady?"

She pouted and managed to cross her arms. "But I was waiting for you! I got worried and thought you weren't going to come back."

There goes his heart. He gave her a warm smile and lightly tapped his finger on her nose, causing her to giggle. "I appreciate you looking out for me, but you need to get your rest. I know that it's summer, but you can't be sleeping at odd hours, kiddo. You wanna be big and strong like-"  _Like your father._ "-me, don'tcha?" She nodded vigorously, her hair slapping her face in the process, and he laughed. "Go wash up, love. I'll tuck you in once I figure out how to get this hunk of junk inside."

Her eyes landed on the chicken once more and she tilted her head to the side. "Why do you have that anyways?" She gasped. "Did you stole it?" 

"No, the president wants me to protect the chicken because it contains secrets to the universe."

She laughed before yawning, and after kissing her forehead, he placed her back on the ground and shooed her off. Madison gave him one last hug before going back inside, and he was left figuring out how exactly he could do this. 

After multiple attempts, he was forced to ask his neighbor for help, and he was now left with a chicken standing underneath the staircase, staring out into nothing with vacant eyes. 

"If you don't kill us tonight then I won't send you to the dump. Deal?" Chica said nothing, and he released a puff of air when Madison called him from upstairs, demanding to be tucked in. "Alright, alright, I'm coming!" He gave one last cautious look at Chica before going upstairs. 

It was almost eleven when Fritz decided to go to bed, forcing himself to stop working on his latest job in favor of getting some actual rest for once. He left his workshop and, glancing at the robotic chicken with slight unease, he went to his bedroom and prepared for bed before eventually falling asleep.

* * *

Madison woke up to the sound of metal banging against each other.

For a moment she thought that it was just Fritz pulling another all-nighter again when she realized that it wasn't coming from the workshop. Curious, she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and slipped on her slippers before exiting her bedroom. Fritz's door was still closed, which meant that he was either having a late night snack or wasn't awake yet.

Hoping that it was the last option, she quietly made her way downstairs and stopped at the end of the stairs. The noises seemed to be coming from the kitchen of all things, and she passed by the staircase and stopped. The robot that Fritz brought home- she believed it was called Chica- wasn't there anymore. Did he moved her somewhere else? That doesn't make any sense- they were barely able to fit her inside the house. Pushing back brown hair from her eyes, she peered into the kitchen and gasped.

Chica stood in the middle of the kitchen, taking out different pans before putting them back. It looked like she was looking for something, and Madison saw that she already had several items laid out on the counter. Taking a deep breath, she stepped away from the doorway and spoke. "What are you looking for?" 

The robot froze, and for a moment Madison thought she broke down. Then she opened her mouth and a horrible mixture of static and garbled speech came out in place of an actual voice. Just as quickly as it came it went, and Madison could only let out a nervous laugh. "I'll take that as a yes then." 

Purple eyes followed her in the darkness as she made her way over to her, and Madison remembered just how tall Chica was compared to her. Another nervous laugh left her mouth as she bent down to help the robot with her task, realizing that all of the items on the counter were for baking. "What do you want to bake?"

Before she could answer- Madison winced when she realized that she was going to hear her 'speak' again- thunderous footsteps and a frantic voice made it way downstairs. She poked her head from behind the counter just as Fritz entered the kitchen, a short pipe clutched tightly in his hands before his eyes landed on her. 

"Madison!" He sprinted to her and pulled her away from the robot, much to her confusion. Madison pretended not to notice how Chica seemed to tensed at the sight of him, although she looked just as agitated as him. "Oh thank God are you okay?! She didn't hurt you, did she?" Fritz checked her over, not giving her any time to respond.

She held up her hands to gain his attention, and when he finally stopped inspecting her, she explained what was going on. Throughout her explanation she was met with mixed reactions before it finally landed on confusion. "She... she just wanted to  _bake_ _?_ " Madison nodded, not quite understanding why he sounded so doubtful. After tugging her arm from his tight grasp, she walked back to Chica and patted her on the arm. 

"Yeah! You didn't told me she could bake, D- Fritz!" Quickly fixing the mistake, she directed her gaze back to the robot. "You didn't told me what you wanted to make! Do you want to make a cake?" Chica, still fixated on her uncle, slowly shook her head. "Cookies? Cupcakes?" When she mentioned cupcakes her head snapped down to meet Madison. She couldn't help but jumped at the sudden reaction, although she smiled and rummaged through the pans until she found what she was looking for. She brought out the correct pan with a flourish and went to the cupboards to find the wrappers as Chica went to work, now set on ignoring them in favor of making the pastry. Fritz was watching all of this in silence, a weird look on his face, and Madison tugged on his hand and asked, "Do you wanna help?"

He didn't say anything but nodded nonetheless, and she cheered before dragging him to the counter. While she was busy giving Chica the ingredients, she noticed how distrusting his eyes were as he stared at the robot, but she didn't decided to comment on it. She was more than happy for the distraction, but she was happier spending time with him.

* * *

 Jeremy didn't know what to do.

On one hand he could stay with a friend until he figure out if Foxy was still after his head, but on the other hand, he was exhausted from work and bringing said fox inside. Besides, even if he  _did_ spent the night with a friend, he was unable to get there because his car broke down again. 

He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, passing the fridge and the "Don't forget to eat!" sticky-note that Fritz put when he bought the house. There was another sticky note that read "Don't forget to take your meds too!" along with the time when he need to take it. Glancing at the timestamp, he gave another tired sigh and reached the top of the fridge for his medication. Taking it without that much thought, Jeremy walked back to the living room and made eye contact with Foxy once more.

It wasn't midnight yet, so he figured that he wouldn't cause do anything yet. However, he  _was_ unpredictable, unlike his other band members. Foxy had the same mindset as the Marionette, and with their last visit to Freddy's still fresh in his head, he knew that he couldn't let his guard down, even if he did look inactive. "Christ..." He rubbed his eyes and groaned, throwing himself on the couch and dropping the remote in the process. He wasn't in the mood to watch TV nor was he in the mood to read a book or go outside. Despite that, he plucked the remote off the carpet and flipped on the television, determined to distract himself for the time being.

The plan ultimately backfired as he was stuck watching reruns of a corny rom-com and fatigue clouding his head. He eventually fell asleep- for how long, he didn't know. What he  _did_ know that it was long enough for Foxy to whir to life. 

" _A-a-ahoy, mateys! Welcome to Cap'n F-Foxy's galleon! Be ye ready to-to-to have an a-adventure?_ "

Caught off guard, Jeremy woke up with a choked yelp and fell off the couch, landing hard on his side and letting out a groan of pain. Foxy loomed over him, smiling dangerously with his teeth, and for a moment he was at a lost for words. "Uh, s-sure?" Foxy was somehow able to grin wider, although his movements were horribly jerky. He almost slashed Jeremy's arm as he grabbed him from his underarms and hoisted him to his feet; the ginger stumbled for a moment but was given no time to recover as the robot pointed off into the distance.

" _W-wonderful! But- But first, ye 'ave t' go through trainin' afore ye c-could become me first- first- first mate! 'n wha' better way th-than Hide 'n Seek? Are y-ya ready?_  "

Oh God, he wasn't ready.

This sounded like the perfect way to die. He couldn't even call Fritz for help because he's probably busy with Chica and his niece. "W-wait, I don't-" Foxy didn't listen, already sprinting off to God knows where. Jeremy could only stand and stare at the red blur, debating on whether he should just bail or just lay down and accept his death. This wasn't what he expected when he brought Foxy home- what he expected was an instant cut across the throat and the slow feeling of death creeping over him once more.

What he  _didn't_ expected was playing Hide and Seek with a bloody fox. Not wanting to find out what happened if he took too long, he counted down from thirty and hoped that Foxy was able to hear him from wherever he was in the house. "R-ready or not, here I, uh, come!"  _Oh God, I'm going to die._ He walked around in the darkness- when did he turned off the lights?- and was able to make his way to the kitchen first.

Nothing was hiding behind the counter, and he wasn't in any of the cabinets either, as absurd as that thought was. He doubted that the fox would be able to fit himself into such a small space, but then he remembered that Mangle used to do the same thing and yeah, he was stopping that train of thought before it continued. Pressing his lips into a thin line, he felt his way to the staircase and took a hesitant step. There wasn't that many places where the robot could hide, so he decided to check out the bathroom first before moving on to the bedrooms. 

He wasn't hiding in the bathtub-  _Thank God_ -but he jumped when he heard rapid footsteps from behind him. No one was there when he spun around, and he wrung his shaking hands together. He haven't been this scared since Freddy's, and it was in his own house for Christ's sake! Getting out of the bathroom, he headed towards the direction the footsteps came from and realized that it was his bedroom. "Y-you can do th-this, Jeremy," he said under his breath, holding a lungful of air before unlocking the door and entering. 

The area looked relatively untouched, yet he didn't lowered his guard in the slightest. Jeremy checked under the bed before realizing that Foxy might be in the closet or on top of the closet, and he wasn't sure which one sounded worse. His fingers cold with fear, he grasped the latch and hesitated. "Foxy? Are you-" A bloodcurdling scream tore through his throat when the robot suddenly lunged at him, and he was suddenly taken back to the day when Mangle attacked him. 

He remembered Mangle seemingly coming out of nowhere and pushing the potential victim out of the way. He remembered Mangle holding him in place as and trying to twist his way out of its grasp, ultimately giving it a better angle to bite. He remembered teeth digging into flesh, the horrid crunch as bones gave way like sticks, the sickening smell of blood running down his hips and Mangle's mouth, the burning that spread like wildfire throughout his body. He remembered how the broken amalgamation didn't released it's hold and instead thrashed its head upwards and the pain  _burning_ -

" _B-better luck next time, l-l-lad!"_

He was struggling to breathe, his lungs burning for oxygen. Jeremy didn't want to play again but couldn't get the words out. Foxy patted him on the back once before sprinting away. Walking on shaking legs and wiping away unshed tears, he went to look for the fox once more.

It slowly turned into an endless cycle of Cat and Mouse, and Jeremy was an emotional mess of nerves and panic. His body felt like lead and everything felt sore. He didn't even realized that Foxy was deactivated when he finally found him for the umpteenth time, already waiting for the eventual shrill scream before Foxy would say, " _Better luck next time!"_ and running off. There was nothing, and in his hazed mind, he actually thought that he was seeing things. It was when he glanced out the window that he realized that it was morning, yet he didn't even had the energy to feel relieve. Instead he collapsed on the couch and closed his eyes, blacking out instantly. He didn't even cared if he missed a day of work- he was sure that Vanessa would understand later.

Foxy twitched from where he was before jerking awake. He got up as quietly as he can and peered over the couch to observed Jeremy's sleeping form. He had no idea why he was here or what the human was planning to do to him, but he wasn't about to find out now. He might have gone a bit overboard on the game, but in his defense, it was the first time he was able to play with  _anyone_ in a long time. He just got a bit excited. 

When he saw the haunted look in his eyes when he scared him the first time though, he decided to tone it down before he gives him a heart-attack. The majority of the game was spent with him either tapping him on the shoulder or barking out a laugh to alert him of his presence. It did the job, although the human was still scared of him. Foxy understood why, though, so it didn't bothered him in the slightest.

Foxy suddenly remembered that the rest of the Fazbear Gang was sold off as well, but he didn't need to worry about Freddy or Bonnie. They haven't woken up in months. Only him and Chica were still awake, their souls preserving them throughout the months. He had no idea about the _other one_ , yet he didn't hesitated in giving him a piece of his mind. His mind drifted off to the chicken and he got a little worried. He didn't know how Chica was doing- wait, that's a lie. She's probably baking up a storm right now.

A chuckle came out of his voicebox before he went back to the kitchen. He wasn't able to investigate his new surroundings during the game, but now he was going to take his time until the sleeping male decides to wake up.

He doubted it would be now though.

* * *

"Dammit, Jere, pick up your phone."

Fritz threw his hands up as his call went ignored for the third time, and he bit back another yawn before trying again. He didn't expect to spend the whole night baking, and after three Madison was forced to go to bed as she was literally falling asleep on the spot. Despite how slow she moved, Chica was able to make four batches of cupcakes and two cakes, and he had to hide the ingredients to stop her. After that he spent the next three hours generally avoiding the chicken, locking himself in his bedroom while she continued working on the final cake- this time it was peanut butter.

He honestly have no idea what he was going to do with all of the pastries, but that wasn't his main concern right now. His main concern was making sure that his cousin wasn't  _fucking dead._ After trying one last time, he finally gave up, putting the phone away and taking another bite of the cake he decided to have for breakfast. Without thinking, he picked up the phone once more and dialed a different number, muttering to himself as he waited for Mike to answer. 

For a moment he thought that it was going to lead to another dead end, but was surprised when he actually answered the phone. "Oh thank God I thought you were dead. Look, Jeremy isn't answering his phone and I'm starting to worry. You live closer to him- do you think you can check on him?"

Mike didn't answered. In fact, he didn't hear  _anything._ There was no breathing, no rustling of clothes, not even any background noises. He raised a brow and looked at the phone in confusion. Was it broken? That shouldn't be possible, it was brand new! "Hello, hello? Is anyone there?"

He was considering hanging up and calling again when something scraped against the receiver. The sound sent a shiver down his spine, but he latched on to the idea that someone  _was_ listening. "Mike, is this your idea of a joke, then save it. Can you least call him-"

Pop goes the Weasel filled his right ear, but it felt like it was playing in the room. Words could not describe how fast he slammed the phone down, and he was filled with icy fear as he ran a trembling hand through his hair. "Fuck fuck  _fuck_ _!"_ Fritz wasted no time, grabbing the car keys off the table and practically flying out of the house. Madison lifted her head off the couch when he cursed but wasn't able to say anything as he jumped into the car and started the ignition. Mike lived on the other side of town- by the time he get there he'll probably be dead.

He should have been more careful, dammit, he  _warned_ him what would happen if he kept that thing! 

 _Don't you dare die, Mike._ Fritz thought as he drove the car to Mike's house, fear and guilt pushing him forward.

* * *

Time seemed to have stopped as Mike stare into the eyes of his potential killer.

The Puppet walked slowly towards him before quickly picking up speed, and it was almost running towards him when the security guard grabbed the closet thing available and used it as a makeshift shield. His eyes were squeezed shut as he waited for the inevitable, sending silent apologies to his family and his only two friends. A minute passed. Then two. When nothing happened, he opened one eye to see what was happening.

White pinpricks glared at the knife in his hands, yet the Puppet refused to take another step closer. It almost looked like it was afraid of it. Pop goes the Weasel slowly turned into a mess of chimes and whirs, and the sound was enough for Mike to wince, but he held his ground.

"S-stay back! I'm not afraid to-" What? Kill it? He doesn't even know if it  _can_ be killed, but he knew that he had limited time. He could get the music box from upstairs, but he couldn't keep it on him for the rest of his life, and the toy could attack him the moment he turned his back. He was fucked, to say the least. The front door opened by an inch, and for a moment, he thought he was seeing things. Then it opened again, and finally Fritz's head popped into view. As soon as his eyes landed on them, he paled, but took a hesitant step forward. 

The Puppet didn't seemed to notice the new arrival, and Mike made it his business to keep it that way. "The only reason I bought you was so that you wouldn't get destroyed. If it wasn't for me then you'll be burning alive by now!" He had no idea why he was saying that, but it seemed to worked. The toy seemed to flinch away from him at that, and he continued. "The least you could do is stop trying to kill me, dammit! If you promise me to stop going for my neck, then I won't hesitate to take you to the dumpster and have you destroyed. Do you understand?"

It glared at him but seemed to slink back, a sharp chime emitting from its chest. Fritz, realizing that it wasn't going to attack him, sprinted to the door and closed it with a soft click. The Puppet whipped it head to the noise, but before it could questioned it further, Mike pointed to the staircase with the knife and said, "Go back to your box. Now." Sending him a final heated gaze, the toy nodded and was gone in a blink of an eye.

The knife fell out of his grasp along with Mike, the front door flying open and Fritz running to the kitchen to support him. "Holy shit are you okay? It didn't- fuck, your  _neck_ -"

"I'm fine, Fritz. Just, uh, a bit shaken up." He sent him an unconvincing smile, and the technician pinched his nose but didn't comment on it any further. Instead he lead Mike to the couch, watching as he all but collapsed onto it.

"What are you gonna do now? Chuck it back to the deepest pit of hell where you found it?" Mike could only shrug, more focused on his breathing than anything else. When he was finally able to breathe properly, he looked Fritz directly in the eye and said the first thing that came out of his mouth.

"I must be going insane, but I'm keeping the bloody thing."

"Mike,  _why?_ "

He shrugged again. "I have no freaking clue, man. But..." He trailed off, the dream from last night returning. "I think... I think it might be useful to us."  _If it doesn't decide to kill me in my sleep, that is._


End file.
